


I Know Who I Want to Take Me Home

by TheEarlyKat



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cliches will happen, Coffee Shops, I do what I want, M/M, Slow Burn, Tropes are abound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 22,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6216898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEarlyKat/pseuds/TheEarlyKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fenris works at the campus library and greatly enjoys the ability to use his frown and quiet the people who study there. Anders practically lives at the library and enjoys the sight of the man that comes to kick him awake before closing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written much aside from my Warden lately, and I don't want to get rusty with the other characters. I've been fiddling with this idea for a bit now and thought it as good a time as any to put down. Title refers to Closing Time by Semisonic

Fenris had his hand up before the keys were tossed up and over the counter. He finished skimming the page before leaning over to eye the dwarf standing at the front desk. He placed his elbows on either side of the plaque stating the secretary position he was assigned to for the day and rested his chin in his hands. 

"I did not know we were closing early," Fenris hummed, and he dangled the keyring on a pinkie to have them clink together with an accusatory jangle. 

Varric splayed a hand across his chest and leaned back as to take the slight physically. "We are not closing early. I am closing early." He took the final step to close the distance between himself and the desk and tapped it with a finger. Fenris' smirk only curled higher. "You know the drill by know, right? Don't let anyone come in at the last minute to print anything 'real quick' because they forgot to earlier. Tell them the printer's off and to come back in the morning. Lock the side door. Check on the kid sleeping in the back."

Fenris nodded, curling his wrist to snatch the keys up and dump them in a drawer. Varric tapped the desk a second time to signal his leaving and once the door swung shut to cut off the blast of cool night air outside, Fenris returned to the magazine before him. The articles inside interested him little but the page-wide photos of expansive landscapes and towering rock formations were pleasing to look at - and he had shelves full to scour through. 

The library job held many benefits aside the literary options. The wifi was free with the occupation and the address gave him access to journals and books that would otherwise be limited to payment or an interlibrary loan. If he had such a need for published research, that was. It was quiet and, when it wasn't, he had full rights to turn the frown he wore so well on to noise makers, deepening the scowl until it grew silent once more. He was required to speak to no one - checking out books or setting them back on shelves didn't necessarily need a spoken word unless it was to confirm a transaction or point to a desired section- and he was content to keep his mouth shut. 

It paid well for the duties it asked for and the hours, his boss, Varric, was kind and easy enough to please though he had yet to find his way on his bad side for now, and if it came with the odd request or two, he could easily brush them off. 

Odd request being...

Fenris checked the clock ticking on the wall behind him and stretched when the time read fifteen minutes to closing. He rolled his chair down the isle behind the desk and slid off, spine popping after sitting through the hours of his shift. He made his way towards the back, first winding his way through the stacks to the side door and locking that first, peeking in the bathroom just in case, and wove through another series of bookcases that lead to the hidden study area just beyond. 

The first day he worked the desk hadn't been in the evening. Fenris was never given the responsibility of kicking those that sought the quiet and seclusion of the library for themselves out before they could locked in after hours. Nor was it his duty the next day or even the next week. Slipped my mind, Varric chuckled, heavy necklace hanging down his chest rattling with the motion, after Fenris snorted at the request. A jest - it had to be. Until Varric's laugh cut off and the usual smile on his face faltered. 

Blondie, his name was. Not his real name, of course, his boss explained when Fenris' laughter only lengthened. No one was sure of his real name and, since he preferred to study or research within the building rather than his place, there were no records to get it from aside form outright asking. So far, no one had, and Fenris wasn't keen on learning it unless the man damaged something. 

Since, Fenris either found him slipping in as soon as the library opened to settle into his routine space when he worked the mornings, or ushered him out when it closed if he worked the nights. Today was no different. 

Fenris cross his arms as he rounded the last shelf that blocked the study area from view. The entire library was considered a study area, but behind the maze of bookcases was a carpet clear of everything save a round table and bean bag chairs. While the building was quiet aside from a burst of conversation every now and again, the layers of stacks that separated the area from the rest of library gave it an even greater sense of secrecy and silence. It would have been the perfect place to absorb heavy material, he thought, if someone were to keep their eyes open. 

"We're closing."

A page fluttered on an exhale, but the man didn't twitch at the announcement, and any fluttering of eyelids was hidden by the book covering his face. He was spread out on the bean bag, one leg stretched out before him, the other propped up on the table. Fenris kicked it down on his way to grabbing the book and clapped it shut loudly by the man's ear. The startled snort that interrupted his snore turned Fenris' frown upward for just a moment before it resumed its downward path. He let him get his bearings, pupils blown wide slowly constricting with the sudden onslaught of light, and straightened back to his full height to let him run a hand down his face. 

"What time is it?" The blond reached back up after rubbing his chin to run a hand through his hair, tugging the last of it out of a half-attempted ponytail. 

"Closing time." Fenris wagged the book at him. "Time to leave."

The man took another second to stretch before gathering his things, a blush coloring his cheeks as he hastily threw a stack of books and notes into his pack. "Right, right - you can save the lecture for today. And the walk back." He snapped his pack shut and tossed the strap over his shoulder. "Same time tomorrow then?"

Fenris shrugged and moved out of the way to let him pass and slide the book back into its place. "It's a date."


	2. Chapter 2

There was a rustle of activity - papers crunching beneath a pawing hand, a whisper of a binder rubbing against cheap plastic folders, a hastily zipped backpack followed by half a curse - before a cup tapped on the desk before him. Fenris didn't look up from his book but he did offer the obviously hurried stranger with a shadow of a smile before letting it drop back into an impassive frown. He let the pages he'd been marking with a finger drift back into place to point to the sign stapled to the cork board behind him. 

The cup was pushed forward, insistently, and a bag was tossed next to it. Fenris heaved a silent sigh and sat up, rolling his shoulders back with the motion. "No outside food in the library." His eyes were still on the sentence he was trying to get through. The simple rules of the library were easy to remember - for some people - and came without much thought. "There is a vending machine in the back if you wish."

There was the pressure of his space being invaded and Fenris lifted his gaze, his customary frown deepening in preparation of a repetition of the bad news. His mouth paused its descent while his brow rose when the man from last night leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk, chin cupped in his folded hands. 

"Dates typically happen with food." The frown proceeded. The man laughed through a tight-lipped smile, eyes crinkling in the corner. "No? Nothing? Though It worth a try." With that out of the way, supposedly, he took the time to adjust his belongings and Fenris took in his appearance for the first time. His shirt, long sleeved with a cat printed on the chest pocket to make it seem like it was nestled cozily with in, was wrinkled - his pants loose on his hips and wishing for a belt the man didn't think to grab. Or didn't have the time to. He didn't have the time to brush his hair, either, with the way it hung loose around his neck rather than pulled neatly back into his tail. 

"Hey, if anyone comes asking for me..." Fenris couldn't help glancing outside through the main doors when the man's eyes drifted towards them. "I'm not here? Donuts for secrecy? The coffee's mine, though." He reached forward to grab his cup and stopped when Fenris beat him to it, placing his hand over the top. Steam rose from the mouth of it to warm the palm of his hand. 

"No food in the library." 

"Good thing I'm not here." He lifted Fenris' fingers off the cover one by one and winked before whirling on his heel to weave though the book cases. 

Fenris scoffed low in his throat and turned in his chair to gesture at the retreating figure with a sharp flick of his wrist. Varric, sitting at the other end of the counter, only gave a dramatic shrug of his shoulders, but the grin crossing his face didn't display the same noncommittal feeling.

"It's your donut now, Broody. I won't tell if you won't tell."

" _You're_ the boss," Fenris snapped, but he snatched the bag towards him nonetheless and shoved the donut in his mouth with little further thought. He was licking the glaze off his fingers, finally returning to his book, when someone else draped themselves across the top of the deck. Fenris closed it, slowly, with an audible sigh, and took even more time to place it in a nook beneath the counter. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for something..." 

"There are digital catalogs."

She batted brown eyes at him, full lips puckered in a pout. She leaned further against the desk and her huff rattled...a thick necklace wrapped around a long neck. Fenris pulled his attention away from the necklace before she took another breath to argue. It looked familiar - the necklace - and he risked another glance. He caught her grin and he cleared his throat. 

"Isabela?"

"Hey, handsome." Fenris sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, both trying to cover himself up and make himself smaller after his suspicions were confirmed. The woman lived on campus for all purposes other than to attended classes. Her boyfriend, one Garrett Hawke, had helped out the President of the university, a Dr. Stannard, with something that gave him the ability to pull her leg until she relented and allowed Isabela residency. As long as she payed for housing and followed on-campus living. Harrassing the underclassmen, hosting parties, and interrupting lectures did not seem to fit that criteria, but as long as Garrett was there to take responsibilities...the woman had yet to wreak havoc on the library, and Fenris supposed it was bound to happen at some point or another. 

"If you're looking for a specific book, ask Varric. He would know where those are."

She laughed. "No, I'm not looking for a book. Today," Isabela added with a lewd raise of her brows. She stepped back and dug in her purse. "I'm looking for a someone. Skinny, blond, almost as gorgeous as me?" When Fenris meerly blinked at her, she tugged a cloth of fabric out of the clutter in her bag. "You see, he left in kind of hurry...if you know what I mean."

Fenris leaned forward just a bit to see it better over the desk and pulled back with a wrinkle across the bridge of his nose. Isabela's laugh sounded again and she stuffed the article of clothing back amongst her things. 

"So you see why I want to find him? And you'll help me? Right?"

Fenris snorted. He could understand why the man hadn't wanted anyone to find them, not when they were flaunting something as embarrassing as that around. "I can help you find a book. Or a map." 

"Handsome and sarcastic. Hawke might be away this weekend."

"Lucky him," Fenris deadpanned. "If you would let me get back to work?"

Isabela hummed and drummed her fingers on the surface of the desk, and, faster than he thought, she grabbed the empty bakery bag and snatched it close. She turned it over, frown quickly turning around and curling more sharply than Fenris thought safe. He didn't want to know what was on it that mad her so happy to find, though he didn't have to ask. Isabela told him anyway. 

"This is the only map I need, handsome. Only one man I know orders a waffle donut." She winked at him and turned with a veil of dark hair tossed behind her, leaving Fenris feeling much as he did earlier - lost, annoyed, and finding his mouth set in something less than a frown. 

Varric choked on a laugh besides him, having seen the simialr expression on his face as before. He wiped at his mouth. "Better go find her before she makes her way through every sap looking for him. And quickly. All the damages are coming out your paycheck."

Fenris slid out of his chair and stormed towards the back of the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is Anders missing? Why is Isabela so dedicated to giving it back? Find out sometime soon, because this has become my favorite thing to write. 
> 
> There was a debate on the weirdest donut and it was between a waffle donut and one made with bubblegum. Even I found that one too weird.


	3. Chapter 3

Fenris stalked between stacks of bookcases, easily reaching the back of the library before Isabela. He knew where to find the wanted man where as she did not and he made a bee-line - as much as he could in the haphazard layout - for the back room. It wouldn't take long for Isabela to search the floor before she found the alcove, as hidden as it was, thus Fenris did not bother to pause outside the turn and draw attention to himself with a clearing of his throat or a swift motion to draw the eye. Instead, he walked between the entrance made by the corner of the wall and the last bookcase of the isle and kept walking. 

The man was awake and that almost surprised him. After falling into the practice of waking him up for the past weeks he'd been working, it was if he expected to find him only sound asleep in a pile of books. Currently, they were taking up proper residence on the table, some lying atop others while others were propped up around him. His legs were folded beneath him, in an actual chair rather than the beanbag, instead of crossed atop tabletop. He'd somehow procured an energy drink and was heedlessly pouring it into the coffee. It was no wonder he fell asleep, then, Fenris mused - the crash must have been a monster. 

Fenris placed his hands on his hips and raised a brow. "Isabela?"

"Oh, shit." The blond's arm jerked in alarm at the sudden voice and the energy drink went with it to both spill its contents on the table and knock the coffee cup, lidless, to follow suit. "Oh, _shit_." He grabbed a handful of the nearest paper to wipe it up and Fenris' brows rose higher as he watched the heart attack in a cup turn the pages of a book a dirty brown. Another series of curses followed before it was tossed off the table and a fistful of notebook paper took its place. 

Fenris cleared his throat and felt a pang of pity at the panic in his eyes when he flinched and tossed his head up to find the source of the noise. "I see you're...busy. But you did not want to be found and someone is looking for you."

He ran a shaky hand through his hair and tucked his bangs behind his ears - how much caffeine had he already downed? "Right, right, Isabela you said?" He stuffed the damp paper into his pack and untucked his legs to rise. A grimace crossed his face and Fenris followed the expression to the wet spot on his pants. He snorted, first, and chuckled second at the reminder of just why Isabela was doggedly searching for him. 

The man's frown had settled back into the smirk Fenris was used to and he felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips. "Like what you see?"

Fenris shook his head. "I see someone who did not follow the library's rules and damaged public property. There is nothing to like."

The man hummed his thought about that and hooked his thumbs into the space between his pants and hips before pausing. His nose wrinkled when he made a face. Fenris bit his tongue to keep his laugh in check. "I'm...going to need new pants." Brown eyes shone and the wrinkles moved to their corners when he smirked. "Could I borrow yours?"

Fenris let the cocked smile play on the man's face for a moment later before breaking the news. "Only if I knew you were wearing underpants." The expression cracked, eyes going wide and shining with more than just the desire to flirt. They darted to the corner of the back room - in fear. 

"How did you - you said Isabela?" He paled when Fenris nodded. " _Oh shit_."

"Did someone call me?"

"No!" He flinched, first, before flinging his pack onto a shoulder. "You have to get me out of here."

Fenris scoffed once, eying the growing damp patch on the front of the blond's pants and the less damaged book used in an attempt to save the day. "You have to pay for the book."

Footsteps marched closer and the jingle of a large necklace added to the beat. The man bit his lower lip. "You don't mean - you can't - not like this. Anything but this." Fenris let him fidget in pace, more tugging the pants away from his skin before they dried, tight, against it, than anxiety from Isabela nearing, before stepping around the corner. A hand latched onto his sleeve and he raised his brow at the firm tug on his arm and felt a smile turn the corner of his lips up. 

Isabela was nearly on top of them when Fenris turned his gaze back to the library proper. She held the boxers open for display in her hand, the other on a cocked hip in her exasperation. "I know the sweet boy can hide, but this is almost ridiculous."

Fenris rumbled a laugh. "No need to resume your search - I have found him. He he wet his pants when he heard you coming and fled to the bathroom in the back."

Isabela's eyes widened and Fenris swallowed another laugh at the sharp yank of his arm. "He did not! You're lying - oh I know you're lying, but I do so love the image." Her chuckle bounced the necklace into a new rhythm and he waved the boxers through his field of view. "You take them, handsome. I'm sure you'll have better luck finding him more than me." She winked and turned on a heel. Fenris would have enjoyed the sway of her hips if another pull of his sleeve forced him around. 

"Well thank you for _that_ ," the man snorted. He snatched the underwear from Fenris' grip. "If she actually comes to the bathroom I'm telling her I'm waiting for you." He wagged the article of clothing in front of him and Fenris swatted them away. 

"You will still have to pay for the book."

"And _you_ have to buy me a new coffee."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologizes about the lateness of this chapter and its shortness! Things have been getting a bit tight with the last leg of the semester and graduation from uni. I'm on break this week, though, so I'm hoping - not promising - to have another chapter up before the end of the week. It should be longer than normal to make up for this shorter-than-normal chapter.

"Tell me that's not that how it happened." Varric leaned forward over his desk, hands braced flat over the budget papers he'd been working through when Fenris returned to his seat. Next month's supply of staplers and printer paper were set aside and forgotten in favor of gossip and Fenris didn't see the harm in telling his boss what was occurring in his own library. The unconscious twitch of the dwarf's fingers for a pen and paper that were no longer there to jot it down, and the sequential furrow of his brow at that mistake, also amused him. Varric sat back in his seat fast enough for the elastic cushion to squeak. "No, wait, do tell me that's how it happened." 

"That's how it happened." 

The dwarf chuckled. "Isabela really came in here waving Blondie's delicates around and you had to save his bare ass?"

"It was not bare," Fenris pointed out, deliberately, for he was sure the man would have dressed down just to push Fenris' limits if Isabela hadn't overhead them in time. He wanted to make certain Varric understood that as well before another rumor was spread about his person and its doings. After the conversation about his curling tattoos went on his day of hire, he'd been approached endlessly for days on the exact extent of the marks from most of the student body. There would be no further rumor about the man finding out just how far down they did go in some dusky-lit corner of the library after hours because one purposefully spilled a shared drink. Varric's eyes glittered when he grinned and Fenris knew it didn't matter how slowly he spoke. His boss had made up the story already.

"Alright, it wasn't bare, _yet_." Varric conceded. "Isabela saves his modesty and what? You let him go just like that? You didn't think to ask him why he was running commando through my respectable establishment?"

Fenris shrugged and swiveled his chair to face the main room of the library. He picked up his forgotten book, smoothed the dog-eared corner and raised it to cover the growing frown on his face. Why the man he usually kicked out just before closing wasn't wearing his briefs was not his concern, but it did certainly make him think. It couldn't have been a common occurrence if this was the first time Isabela made an appearance to announce it, and he had looked rushed with his hastily combed back hair and crooked clothes. Fenris turned the page, the words blurring out of focus while his mind wandered. Perhaps he'd simply woken late and grabbed what he could. Or he'd run out of clothes before laundering. Although Isabela was not known for her blatant acts of charity unless she got something out of it in turn. 

Unless she and him...

"I know you aren't reading the book, Broody. You're eyes aren't moving."

"You have me thinking," he admitted with a grumble and let the book fall to his lap. He heard Varric stifle a laugh and kept his eyes on his hands marking the page once more along the already present fold. That had been the point, he assumed from his boss' enjoyment. Fenris could figure that much out, but he wasn't confident in himself nor the current knowledge of the way Varric thought to work through the further plan. To get him to know the man? Maybe just enough to push him into asking why the man slept in the library so often - not that it wasn't a question he hadn't tried to broach on his own a few times. "He says I owe him a new coffee after the spill. I can ask him them."

"'Atta boy."

Fenris snorted. "He also owes me a new book. He spilled it on the Biography of Stroud." Varric's smirk fell into something as close to anger as Fenris had ever seen - just a darkening of his eyes and a furrow to his brow - and returned his book. He would mention the coffee date when he closed and found the man in the back. 

"Be sure to ask him. And tell him he'll need to speak to me."

He agreed, except, Fenris did not find anyone in the back room when he checked the hidden nooks and crannies of the library before locking up. He did not fault the man for not returning after the incident that morning. As quiet as it was, even whispers carried and Isabela had not been whispering. Assumptions could be made, conclusions deduced, and there was more than enough shame to keep anyone in a similar situation from showing their faces to anyone for some time. He had counted, since the first day of work, for the act of leading the blurry-eyed man out, and he found himself actually missing the routine. 

A lack of anyone to kick out did leave him some minutes before he was allowed to officially clock out and Fenris rearranged the bean bags around the table and rubbed at the carpet with the hell of his foot to try to cover the few drops of the spill that managed to miss both book and pant to stain the floor. It wasn't a large enough mess to warrant a report, perhaps a note for a bottle of stain removal and a cloth, and dragged a bean bag over it before scribbling a note on its whereabouts. He slipped it in the desk when he put the keys away to be found by whoever worked in the mornings.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I find it amusing that my campus' library is named the Merrill Library. So of course she had to make an appearance.

The woman that worked mornings was zipping up her bag when Fenris pushed through the door for his slot. He leaned against the front desk, arm cross over the top, waiting for her to finish and leave. She turned around wildly, bag arcing after her, and she stifled a gasp when she nearly collided with him. Her hands fluttered wildly in the thin space between them and Fenris had the urge to grab a hold of them before she did hit something with her flailing, but they settled on sweeping short bangs out of wide green eyes, made wider by the tattoos that framed them. 

"Fenris," she finally spoke. "You're here early! Or, well, earlier than I expected. It's not necessarily early for your shift, is it? Varric never actually told me much about you when you started." Her hands went back to fluttering and her face was tinted red when he dragged his eyes from them. One clutched the strap of her bag while the other was thrust out towards him. He grabbed it before it could jab into his stomach and she turned it into a shake. "I'm Merrill. I usually open in the morning. Sometimes you do it when I get busy. It's so quiet those first few hours, sometimes I come in even when I'm not working. It's much easier to study when no one is around." 

Fenris nodded and dropped their hands so he could move around her and to the back of the desk. Varric had, indeed, left out much upon his hiring, but he knew of the woman. A sort of anthropology major, it was as much as a good place to further her education on the job as it was for him to let his annoyances out by cutting off whispered conversations and chucking outside food into waste bins. He moved the papers she'd been working on into a stack, intending to place it before her, but paused to take off the note scratched a top the pile. 

Merrill snapped her fingers when she noticed. "Right! You're not early - I'm only late! I wanted to tell you - I saw the note you left last night. You know, quite a few people study there but there's only on that tries their luck with food. I guess you've been making an impression." Fenris nodded with a soft noise in the back of his throat. He pulled out his laptop, ignoring most of her words, while she continued. "So I kept my eye out for Anders. He showed up right on time, about an hour after opening. I told him you had something to say to him and he got very red. I wrote it down to remind he's in the back. Is he angry at you? Or are you angry at him?"

"Varric is the one who is angry," Fenris answered, finally looking towards her. Anders. He finally had a name for the face. The long, meaningless conversation didn't feel worth it for something he could have asked. "Anders ruined a book and I have to ask him about repayment." 

Merrill said something in response though Fenris busied himself with logging into the library's wifi. He heard the door click open and swung shut, next, and after looking up to finding the woman gone, slipped headphones over his ears to wait for someone with a complaint or request to bother him into looking up from his laptop.

There was once he had to leave the desk to replace the paper towels in the bathroom, and when he returned to his desk he found Varric's chair still unoccupied. With a snort, Fenris closed his laptop and packed into the cubby beneath the desk for the illusion of safety. It was up to him, if his boss wasn't to come in that day, to give Anders the bad news about the book. A check at the clock on the wall read well enough into the evening that Anders was most likely settling down for his nap to await the wake up kick in a few hours when the library closed at midnight, and Fenris felt no qualm at keeping him up. 

The man was pulling the second beanbag chair over to the one, still atop the spill, by the table to settle in when Fenris wound his way to the back. There was no coffee this time, Fenris noticed with a raise of his brows. His surprise was short lived when he found a can in its place; at least it had a screw on cap, firmly sealed. 

Anders clapped his hands together when he shoved the beanbags together and went to fall into them. His tumble was less graceful than he anticipated, no doubt, when he caught Fenris in the corner of his eye. He lunged for the can on the table, missing, and dropped into the beaded embrace. 

"You!" Anders pointed a finger in his direction. "You need a bell." 

Fenris chuckled. "Did I catch you with your pants down?" The man's face flushed and he sputtered. "I am hoping you're wearing something more appropriate?"

Anders scoffed and struggled into a sitting position. "I learn my lessons, thank you very much." He successfully reached for the can and tugged it close to his chest. "Sometimes." He took a swig. "It's a lot earlier than you normally show up to kick me out. Some kind of holiday I'm forgetting?"

Fenris shook his head. "Unless you want to make the day you pay for a book a holiday, I am not believing so."

"Do I have really have to?" Fenris gave him a level look and the man patted his pockets, eyes drifting him his face. "I don't...not really..."

He waved a hand. "We can talk about it over coffee." Ander's eyes shot back to him, wide and surprised. "I do owe you a new one. _Outside_ of the library."


	6. Chapter 6

It was dark outside and growing colder with the setting of the sun hours earlier, and Fenris wondered if the the cause of the growing frown on Anders' face was the brisk slap of every gust of wind against his exposed cheeks. The man had pulled up the collar of his jacket as high as it could go, which was still not very high, and hunched his shoulders to make his tall, willowy frame smaller and more compact. It could, he mused with more than just a hint of a smile, alternatively be due to the fact he'd dragged the man out of the heated library, where his belongings still were, before he was ready. 

They weren't to walk far, for where Fenris thought to bring him, and while the disgruntled expression was one he was growing an attachment to, he didn't want him miserable. The fact that he was paying for a coffee Anders was missing this morning should have been more of an incentive than the furrow of his brows suggested, but, either way, the discussion over the book wouldn't take any longer than a simple 'yes, I'll pay.' There would be plenty of time for him to get back, finish his work, and doze off if he was adamant about keeping his schedule. 

Fenris stopped at the turn of the sidewalk and pressed the walk signal, rocking back on his heels to wait for the light to turn. Anders muttered something besides him and when he cocked his head to catch the words, he found the man turning his glare to the street before them. 

"What?"

"I said, did we have to come by this way?" Anders shivered. 

"Yes." Fenris didn't deem the answer a further explanation, but Anders had turned the look on him and he sighed. There were some streets in Kirkwall that some did not brave even on the brightest of days, and their path brought them closer to Darktown. Anywhere by the university was close to Darktown, in truth. "This is the only way to get there." 

"Where? Where are we going that we have to go down Cullen Corner?"

"A bakery."

Anders snorted and shoved his hands further into his jacket pockets, rolling his shoulders. "I think you're the one to forget what time it is now."

"It's open late."

"How late?"

The street light turned red and the walk signal clicked on. Fenris didn't answer, opting instead to cross over, leaving Anders with the option to either follow or turn back. The prospect of a free coffee must have been stronger than he assumed, as Fenris found him jogging after him, still braving both the cold and the poorly lit street. The atmosphere was not lightened any by the closed and boarded shops along the road. They would open early in the morning, when commuter students drove down for the start of the day, hoping to catch one or two with their breakfast deals or sales on office supplies. Further down, nearly at the end of the block, more lit than the straining batteries of the street lights, was a smaller cafe spilling light over the sidewalk before it. 

"Late enough," Fenris finally said, heading towards it. 

Anders pursed his lips at the answer and hunched his shoulders. "It's too late to be going anywhere. Hold my hand? I'm scared." Fenris kept his hands firmly at his sides and he chuckled when the man glared at him when he moved to pulled the door open. A bell rung when it closed again behind them, and it took a moment for someone in the back to recognize it. A woman approached the counter patting her hands dry on a towel tucked into an apron. She nodded at Anders but her face broke into a smile when her eyes crossed to Fenris. He nodded at her. 

"Fenris," she greeted, leaning forward over the display counter, arms crossed to cover a selection of frosted donuts and decorated cookies. "I haven't seen you around here in a while."

"I found a job recently," he replied, and motioned to Anders with a roll of his hand. "It requires me to stay late." Anders made a face and crossed his arms. 

The woman laughed. "You mean 'he' requires you to stay late." It wasn't a question, but Fenris let his mouth tilt up in an answering smile. Anders grumbled and dragged a chair from one of the few tables out, making the legs screech, and dropped into it. 

"I thought we were getting coffee, not a meet-and-greet."

"We can do both. Welcome to Day Bake, open from sunset to sunrise. I'm the manager, Lirene. Fenris, do you want your usual?" The man nodded and moved to sit across from Anders and waited for him to give his order. 

"Anders, apparent cause for the lack of the Fenris' appearance, and unapologetic," he added. "And anything decaf." Lirene scribbled the order down on a pad, tapped her pen against the counter, and disappeared back into the other room. Anders turned in his seat to face Fenris when she left. "You came here often?"

He shrugged. "I did not have anywhere else to go before I worked at the library. I would go to classes and stop here on the way back. Now that I have to wait to wake you up, I do not."

"Kind of surprising this is the first time we've spoken then." The blond leaned back in his seat and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "I live down the street we crossed to get here." Fenris raised his brow and he chuckled. "I didn't want anyone I knew coming down and talking to me. I don't need anyone interrupting our date."

"Is that what this is?" Lirene slid their coffees onto the table and Fenris wrapped his hands around the mug.

"It is if that's what you want it to be." He winked from over his drink. 

Fenris met the expression with a snort and broke it by glancing to find Lirene. She missed his look, focused on scrubbing down a nearby table with a rag, humming to herself softly. He returned to him with a resigned sigh. "I'm wanting this to be a one-time offer to replace a coffee I inadvertently caused you to spill, and the reminder that you must pay for the book you spilled it on." 

Anders chuckled. "Well, you see, the thing is, I want it to be more than a one-time offer because I like drinking coffee and looking at you, and because I'm broke." He fixed the man with a grin that Fenris was not interested in meeting. 

"Varric is already displeased with you-"

"Not for sleeping in the library, though."

"No, not for sleeping in the library," Fenris admitted, jaw growing tight with his impatience. "For ruining a book. Why do you sleep in the library? You said you lived down the street?" Anders' grin widened at the interest he showed and he made a note to kick himself on the way back. He'd wanted this meeting short and to the point, yet he was asking questions, prolonging their encounter. 

"Maybe I just like being manhandled." Fenris released the hold on his cup before he threw it in exasperation and made an unimpressed noise in the back of his throat. Anders laughed and leaned back in his chair, drumming long fingers in the top of the table. "Alright, fine, the truth then. I do live down this street. Nothing too fancy, but I share it with Isabela and Hawke." He made a face, one that Fenris did identify with. Anders' grin sobered into something more gentle. "It gets pretty loud and Isabela doesn't even go to the university, as you probably well know. She doesn't have a reason to go to bed at a decent time - or go to bed _at all_. _Some_ people need to sleep however."

Fenris found himself leaning forward. "Then, when Isabela showed up with-"

Anders hushed him with a shake of his head, a flush climbing up his neck, and checked behind him for Lirene before explaining. "It wasn't with me, if that's what you're thinking! Her and Hawke - and I had a paper I'd fallen asleep halfway through. I had to get out of there if I wanted to finish it in time and if I forgot to put on briefs - well, I didn't think anyone would be the wiser."

"Isabela is very wise in those matters."

"No kidding," he snorted, and shrugged, taking another sip. "So I end up the library. It's quiet there, Hawke scoffs at the mere mention of reading, and Isabela keeps a healthy distance from security when it's daylight. I get my work done, a nap after, and if there's a handsome man to wake me up, who am I to complain?"

Fenris shook his head and this time he couldn't help the small quirk of his mouth. Anders was nothing if not persistent. "You may when Varric hears you can't pay for a replacement." The cheeky grin stayed on the blond's face and he couldn't help thinking that the man knew he would get away with it. It took a bit more thought to know he might just as well get away with it. "I'll let him know and you'll hear from him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may have been my favorite chapter to write. I don't understand how some people think Fenris and Anders can't have a civil discussion from the start, or how anxious bipolar Anders can't also still be flirty. Also, the idea for the coffee shop came from a place called Insomniac's Cookies, a bakery sort of nearby that's open until 3am. It's amazing. 
> 
> I post updates and such on my [tumblr](http://theearlykat.tumblr.com/) if you ever want to know when chapters for this and other fanfictions are coming!


	7. Chapter 7

The routine was back in place. Fenris slept in late that night and woke up barely in time to pull on a pair of pants if he hopped to the door while doing so. Varric was at his desk typing away, most likely on some mournful article about the lost book. Or a request for a replacement from another library. Fenris dropped into his seat on the other side of the desk and collected Merrill's workings into its own pile before pulling out his laptop to use the next hours for course work and idle media consumption when he tired of it. He frowned at several people, hushing one particularly one loud and warding off a sole would-be-trickster if they hadn't been caught rearranging books by title to spell out something foul. Anders came in later in the afternoon, sans coffee, winking at Fenris as he passed to the back of the library. 

"No frown for Blondie today?"

Fenris was sure Varric hadn't looked up from his computer to check if he truly was frowning or not, but the responding chuckle gave his answer away. 

"He brought no drink with him today." Fenris was uncertain why the smile teasing at the corners of his mouth continued to stay. He worked his jaw to clear his expression. 

"You gave him the word then?" Now the dwarf looked up, expectation lifting his brows high. Varric may have been interested in everyone's lives, but it was his beloved books that received his full attention. 

Fenris folded his hands in his lap, crossing his legs to rest them on his knees, and swiveled his chair to meet his eyes. "Yes." Varric's eyebrows rose higher. "And no." Fenris watched his brows climb up his forehead until he thought they would rise off his face, until they crashed back down to turn his already squashed face smaller. 

"What do you mean now?"

Fenris spread his hands. "I made him aware that he must pay the library back and he made myself aware that he has no funds to do so." What Varric intended to do with such news didn't concern him. The book that was in need of replacement also didn't concern him, but his boss's concern with the ordeal was amusing enough for him to continue to be involved with it. The reddening of Varric's face, however, was not. "Do you intend to ask him yourself?"

"Oh, I'll ask him a few things," Varric grumbled. He slipped out his chair and shoved the swinging panel separating the desks open hard enough for it to crack against the opposite desk. He pointed a finger at finger at Fenris before leaving. "If he can't answer them, it's coming out of your paycheck. You're the one that spooked Blondie into spilling all over himself."

It was definitely no longer amusing. He hoped Anders could charm his way pas Varric as well as he could himself. Fenris grunted at the thought, though Varric took it as an affirmation and left to march to the back room. He watched him go, wondering when he'd started finding Anders' jabs well-intentioned rather than annoying. 

As it turned out, Varric found them just as well-intentioned, if not more so, from the way the dwarf came back to his chair, arms swinging loosely at his sides and whistling. 

"No loud noises in the library."

Varric pulled a face and Fenris pointed at the list of rules stapled to the board behind him. His impassive face nearly slipped when he remembered the same encounter with Anders beginning similarly, and it did when he remembered the rules 'No outside food or drink' had been underlined. Varric caught to twitch of his mouth and crossed his arms, learning forward. "I made the rules-"

"And you are not above them." Fenris didn't look up from his laptop until the other was seated, grumbling to himself about ungrateful employees. He allowed the smile to fully form on his face and closed his computer to turn to him. "You two came to an agreement, then?"

His boss laughed and flicked his computer on with an enthusiastic roll of his wrist before propping his head up on his hands. "We sure did. Blondie's gonna pay his fees with some time and elbow grease, and I might just get the most interesting gossip of a lifetime." Fenris watched Varric's grin grow. "You should ask him about it yourself when you close up."

Ask he did. Fenris circled the library to close and lock the side door and chase any lingering students out between the shelves before finishing the rounds up at the room in the back. Anders was in his customary position, feet propped up on the table with his upper half supported by the collection of bean bag chairs, a book splayed open across his face to block out the light from the ceiling. Without his coffee, he'd fallen asleep early, if the way the pages of the book stuck to his cheeks when Fenris peeled it off him was any sign of the length of time he'd spent like that. Anders' brow furrowed at the sudden intrusion of fluorescent lighting before scrunching up in pain when Fenris kicked his feet off the table. 

Anders pulled his knees close to his chest, first wrapping his hands around the bruised area and quickly taking them off again when the touch sent pins and needles racing down his shin in the same direction as the blood now flowing back into the limb. Fenris sat on the edge of the desk, crossing his legs, and watched the man work himself into a sitting position while his legs, asleep, failed to respond. 

The man relaxed back into the bean bags when he settled with a huff, and his face lifted when he spotted the librarian watching him. Fenris felt himself easing into the smile. "Well if you aren't a sight for sore eyes."

He chuckled and tapped a leg with the tow of his foot. "Sore legs?"

Anders swatted him away. "That, too." He leaned forward, draping his arms over his knees. "Here to drag me out? Can I request the method? I haven't been carried bridal style in a while. Make a poor man's dreams come true?"

"Poor indeed," Fenris said. Anders pouted. "How are you managing to pay Varric back? I thought you didn't have the means."

Anders' pout hardened into a frown and Fenris decided he enjoyed the pout more. It wrinkled the corners of his eyes just slightly enough to suggest he wasn't truly upset, but they were missing when he frowned. "I'm not paying him; he's paying me. At least, technically he is. Varric gave me a job here and he's taking the money out for the book with the paychecks."

Fenris leaned back and crossed his arms. It wasn't an entirely awful plan considering Anders was in the library nearly constantly anyway, for coursework if not hiding from his roommates. It meant he was allowed to stay, but he would have to put real effort into staying awake. Although...

"It was not a very expensive book. It wouldn't require more than just one."

The grin was back. "I'm broke." 

And now he had a job. A paying job. Just as Fenris had needed when he began his semester. He snorted and rose from the table. "It's past closing." 

"Carry me?" Anders held his arms out in front of him, fingers wiggling for attention, and Fenris grabbed a hold of one to yank him up. Anders' gasp of surprise was cut short when it was all Fenris did, and his arms dropped limply to his sides. "My poor man's heart."

"Not so poor now."

He laughed. "See you in the morning, coworker."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the last four weeks of the semester and updates for everything are going to come a little slow.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly so surprised at how many of you there are reading this fic. This has to be the most popular one I've written and it means a ton that there's interest and everyone is still sticking around for updates. I'm really having a great time writing these chapters and it makes it all that much better seeing you liking them. Thank you.

"No sleeping on the job." Fenris swung his chair wide to have his feet connect with the seat of that next to him to jostle Anders, but rather than wake the man the up, the bump pushed him to slump further across the desk. Anders tucked his head deeper into the crook of his elbow with a muffled noise of complaint. 

"What job? I don't see a job. I see a cruel man and a crueler dwarf stealing money from me." There was enough of his face left unhidden in his sleeve to see a lack of crinkled skin around the temples and Fenris imaged the frown on his face. He tapped the chair again, harder this time. The genuine concern had him surprised and he was determined to know why for both cases.

"You are even permitted coffee when here and not at the library's computers." 

"Which would've been great to know before I got here and had the time to pick some up, but had to rush because you two need to steal my money so early in the morning." 

"It's not stealing when I have all the paperwork you signed agreeing to said presumed stealing," Varric called from the desk across the rug. He had copies of Anders' work forms in his hands, tapping them against the desk to straighten them. 

"I'll form a union. It can be called 'Librarians Against Binding' because we're surrounded by books. Which are binded." Anders chuckle at his joke grew louder at Fenris' responding groan. "Fenris seconds it and now it's official." The blond's face was turned out of his elbow to grin at him and Fenris rolled his eyes to distract from the growing quirk of his mouth. It was no good in encouraging the man, but he found he liked his enthusiasm nonetheless. 

"I demand higher pay."

Anders sat up fully. "That's it! Better pay!"

"I'll fire the both of you," Varric warned. He rummaged through his drawers, though it was unlikely it was for any terminating contracts. 

"I'm too pretty to be fired. I give this library a face to remember."

Fenris reminded himself once more not to encourage further conversation. "You love me too much to fire me."

"Do I now?" Varric clicked his pen an scribbled something on his desk, eyebrows raising with each loop. Anders' expression matched and he propped his head up in a hand, elbow resting on the desk top. 

"Does he now?" the blond parroted. His eyebrows neared his hairline whe he waggled them. "I have some competition then."

"It's the hair," Fenris confessed, pressing a hand to his chest.

"It's true."

Anders' pout twitched when he dragged a finger down his own sternum. "Maybe it was just never meant to be."

It was how Fenris' first day with Anders as his coworker went. Unlike himself, Varric had Anders working only part-time, and when his shift was over Anders retreated to the back of the library more for another nap rather than necessity of the biographies that resided there. Varric watched him go with some confusion before returning to his own work, knowing Anders holed himself up there anyway. Fenris wondered if Hawke and Isabela had been up late again, loud again, last night. Fenris wouldn't have been too eager to return home, either. 

He'd never asked Anders about it. 

Fenris made a note to himself to bring it up later, when he made the rounds for closing. There wasn't much use in asking now, when Anders was burrowing himself in his collection of bean bags, actually his now that he worked there, and Fenris sat himself back down in his seat when he found himself half-standing out of it. His eyes kept darting to the clock in the corner of his laptop and shifting to the one ticking away on the wall to double check. He found himself caught when, once the clocks marked the library's closing hour, Varric made his way over to Fenris' side of the desk to lean against it in full view, making sure Fenris saw his grin. Fenris crossed his arms at him. 

"Well? Go get him."

Fenris did. He worked his way around the library as he usually did, clearing the desk of his things to put them in their respective drawers before locking up the side door and looping to the room in the back. Anders was laying on his stomach this time, only one leg thrown on the table, face sticking to the bean bag from a small puddle of drool. It would leave a stain if left to dry and Varric would make him pay for that as well. 

Ander's soft snore broke into a snort when Fenris kicked the bean bag to wake him, watching the array of expressions play out on the blond's face as it went from wide-eyed and pale to wrinkled in confusion, and finally smoothed out with a sly smile to match when he spotted Fenris. He wiped his cheek off with the back of a hand. His eyes were bright. "Bridal style?" 

Fenris shook his head, unsurprised the light continued to keep his brown eyes golden despite the refusal, and sat cross-legged on the carpet before him. "Long day?"

"Early morning," Anders corrected, brows lifting just a bit in question. He sat upright as much as he could in the ever-shifting beads of the cushions. "Isabela found herself a job at a place down the street and spent the morning..." Anders' voice was faded out as Fenris lowered his gaze to the man's lap and noticed Anders had stopped talked talking altogether when he shifted his hips not so subtly. Fenris flicked his eyes back up to his face and took in the flush crossing his face. 

"Spent the morning...?"

Anders pawed at the air between them, nose wrinkling and mouth pulled into a tight smile to ward off the laugh bobbing in his throat. "Getting ready, you pervert."

Fenris hummed his thought at that. "I can be assured you're wearing underpants, then?"

Anders wriggled his hips again. "Assure yourself all you want. I can't be too sure myself since, you know, I was up early and had no coffee because some evil people needed to steal my money. I'm truly devastated."

Fenris chuckled. "Are you now?"

He nodded. "I am. Make it up to me?"

The smile still played on his lips and Fenris thought his mouth should be hurting from how often it was stretching to fit the expression he seemed to only wear in Anders' presence. He didn't find the mind to care and let the expression fit itself in place. His mouth was fine, too, if not chapped with just a hint of discoloring on his front teeth. "Should I?" What had happened to not encouraging him?

Anders leaned forward, face closer enough that Fenris noticed there were bits of green within the rings of gold in Anders' eyes. The mix of colors went well with the freckles spattered across his nose and hair that fell out of the tail he pulled it back into. "Carry me out. Bridal style."

Fenris shoved him away and Anders fell back laughing, choking on a gasp when the bean bags gave out and he sunk down into their depths. A hand poked out between them, waving, and Fenris grabbed it to pull him to his feet. Anders took it as in invitation to pull himself close to his chest, humming at the warmth. Fenris let him have the moment for a second. A second that Varric had to cross the library and clear his throat at the two men. 

"No fraternizing in my library." 

Fenris pulled his hand out of Anders' grasp and pushed Anders away again when he reached for it. "We were not fraternizing in your library," he answered, school his face even when Anders brushed his fingers against his for a third time.

"Nope, we're definitely not", Anders agreed. "But we could be." Varric wiped at his mouth. 

"Of course, not here," Fenris continued. "At the late night bakery. Day Bake."

Anders laughed. "Tomorrow?"

Fenris grinned. "Tomorrow."


	9. Chapter 9

Fenris kept his eyes forward as he made his way down the street to the bakery. It was a later time of night than the last he'd wandered here with Anders, and though the well to-do shop was decorated in brightly colored lights that had yet to succumb to the same dank and grit as the stores around it, it was still situated in the Darktown district outside the Kirkwall campus. There were people dirtier than the trash dumped on the side of the street, braver than the street lamp on the corner flickering through the last of its battery to keep way the night, and more desperate than the brick walls toppling over from their degrading mortar - people he tried to avoid. A well-timed scowl kept the lot of them at bay, but it was best not to take his eyes off them to look around. For other potential issues because, for all he knew, Anders was already in the bakery. 

The door knocked the bell hanging atop the threshold to signal a customer. Lirene was at the front counter this time and glanced up at the ding. She grinned and slid a new tray of cream filled donuts into the display case and pat her hands on her apron before crossing them atop the glass counter. 

"You again? If you keep showing up here, I'll start expecting your scheduled coffee again." His snort was met with a laugh and she rounded the case to lean against the front of it, arms crossed beneath her chest. "Your friend not showing up tonight? The one with the ponytail?"

He shook his head. "We're to meet up here."

"The regular then? For him, too?"

"Decaf for him," Fenris corrected. She went back behind the counter to fix the order and Fenris picked a table in the corner. He drew a menu towards him and fiddled with the fraying lamination on the side and bided his time. He wouldn't be disappointed Anders was not yet here. Fenris had worked the morning shift, leaving Anders to pick up after him with Varric there to keep him awake through closing. A missing afternoon nap would slow him down. Fenris would only have to wait, and he had a unobstructed view of the road from his corner to spot anyone coming down the street. There was still time enough for a shady someone to stumble down the sidewalk, not just Anders in particular, and this way Fenris would know who to look out for on the walk back. 

A plate slid onto the table and Fenris turned to thank Lirene, but her apron was traded for a pair of thick brown legs and a pair of shorts. Fenris didn't let his gaze linger and instead scowled up at the coffee mug held tantalizing out of grasp, held aloft by a beckoning hand. Something cold and heavy settled in his gut at the same time the waitress settled into the seat opposite him. She placed the coffee on his dish and folded her arms across the table to rest her chin in her hands. 

"I thought I heard your voice, handsome, but I didn't think to actually see you here."

"Isabela," Fenris greeted. He took a sip and followed its descent back to the table to keep his gaze off her. Any twitch of his face would encourage her need for gossip and he kept his mouth pressed firmly into a hard line, staring at the ripples in his drink as he tapped his fingers against the table top in the hopes she would leave. "What are you doing here?"

"About to ask you the same thing," she purred and the jingle of several arm bands rasping against the table as she leaned forward added to the rumble. His eyebrow twitched and he snatched his hand away before she could brush her fingers across his knuckle. He slapped her hand away. "Come here often?"

He shook his head and stared harder at his coffee. She only chuckled and he heaved a sigh. It wouldn't cause too much harm if he told her something. It would, at least, give her something to mull over and possibly pacify her into leaving. "If you must know, I did frequent until my employment at the campus library. The late nights have prevented me from returning." He waited for her to rise from the chair. The cold feeling in his gut spread to his feet as she continued to sit, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. He swore under his breath. 

"What happened today? Varric let you out early?"

"Of the sort." He took another sip to give himself an extra moment. "Varric has hired Anders to pay for the book he ruined when he spilled his drink. I did warn him," he muttered.

Isabela's eyes brightened and she leaned back, smile wide and full. "So that's where Sparkles has been lately! He's always been out but never this late. I've been missing him," she added with a sigh. Fenris hoped she'd leave it at that and winced when she leaned back and crossed her arms over his chest. "Which means if you're here, he's working right now." Isabela shook her head. "No, he's closing - probably closed right now. It'll be dark and quiet and Anders will be so lonely, wishing someone was there right now..." she trailed off and Fenris bit his tongue. He wouldn't let the flush he felt crawling up his neck show. 

"To make sure he doesn't stumble over something and ruin another thing."

She giggled. "Or to hold his hand because he likes it." 

"That's not-" 

Lirene came out of the back with another coffee and placed it on the table with an apologetic smile. Isabela's teeth shone. Behind her, Fenris could see the blurred outline of someone walking down the street. The only one likely to be wandering at this time of night would be Anders, especially with their predetermined meeting at the bakery. He wouldn't allow Isabela to tease him, not after the first day of unaccustomed wakefulness despite what activities he was subjugated to with Hawke and Isabela around. The both of them caused him enough trouble and he would not allow them to put more on the man if he could help it. 

Isabela caught his look and turned around. She drew in a sharp breath, suspicions confirmed, and whipped around with determination set in the line of her mouth. "Isn't it?"

"It's not," he growled. Fenris rose from his seat, grabbing both the coffees, and shoved open the door with his shoulder to grab a hold of Anders' arm with his free hand. 

Anders laughed at the sudden flurry of motion and stepped out of the way of sloshing liquid. "If all it takes to get my daily dose of manhandling is walk down the street, I might not have trouble passing by here myself again."

"We won't be coming back," Fenris said. He tugged Anders away despite the whine in his voice. He heard the catch in the noise and wondered if he'd spotted Isabela. Or perhaps she was pressed up against the glass, forcing herself to be noticed. "I'll bring you your own coffee tomorrow. For tonight, I will walk you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not intend for the break between chapters to be this long, but we're finally getting the point where Fenris is starting to have feelings other than annoyance. At least at Anders. Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long to get up. It's been a little hectic finishing up the semester and getting ready for graduation. I should have all the time in the world to write, aside from continuing the hunt for jobs. 
> 
> As always, thank you so much for sticking around and reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I am so sorry for how long this chapter has taken. I've graduated college, moved out, gotten a job, so things have been a little crazy for awhile. I only get a little bit of time to work on writing now, keeping things slow, but hopefully when I get more of a schedule things will become more regular. Thank you for being patient!

Anders was quiet until the two of them rounded the corner of the sidewalk where the dim street lamp light up the surprise in his eyes. They were downcast, watching the way their arms swung side by side, fingers intertwined, and Fenris felt the man squeeze his hand with just the slightest of pressure. Fenris allowed it, if only for the sake it kept his mouth shut, but beneath the light he watched it fade even as the orange fluorescence gave way to shadow once more. 

His twitched at the whimper climbing up Anders' throat. "My coffee."

"I will bring you one tomorrow."

There was huff that spoke of the pout forming on his face. "You promised me one tonight. I worked all day thinking about meeting you here, sharing drinks, discreetly holding hands under the table, and I won't be let down."

"It is of your best interest that we left, believe me," Fenris muttered, though he found himself loosening his grip on the coffee in his hand and holding it out. The next displeased whine broke into a soft gasp and the man snatched it from him, drinking deep. He hummed. 

"You drank from this already, didn't you?" Anders didn't wait for him to answer. "That's an indirect kiss, you know. If you drink from the same cup as someone else." He paused again and the hand in Fenris' squeezed once more. "And we're still holding hands. My, Fenris, is this a date?"

"We were arranging to meet up here." 

"That almost sounds like a yes," Anders laughed. Fenris chuckled and let the man swing their arms in exaggerated arcs as they continued down the street. Without any lamps aside the one on the corner to light their path, it was difficult to find the apartment number unless the buildings were counted as they were passed. The pair had to turn and retrace their steps to a complex back up the road. Anders ascended the stairs, arm stretched out to keep his fingers interlocked while Fenris remained on the sidewalk below. 

"I didn't think you were serious." Fenris raised a brow and Anders shrugged a shoulder. "The whole date idea. I love the date idea - don't get me wrong," he added, and laughed at himself when Fenris grinned. "But I know who I am. I'm loud and I'm flirty and it's usually taken for 'personality' rather than interest. I almost sort of hoped you would, too, make the mistake, I mean, but then you kept kicking me awake and I kept waking up to good hair and better eyes. I thought it was a one time thing - usually Varric does the waking - and while I don't enjoy the foot in my side every night, I do like the man the foot's attached too." 

Fenris eyed their still interwoven hands. Anders' were warm in his and large enough for his fingers tap against his knuckles as he waited for some sort of answer. There were no blemishes aside from a spattering of freckles across his hand, no discolorations or imperfections to mar the pale skin, just uneven, bitten nails resting on his hand. His own felt rough, now, and he shook his hand free from Anders' to tuck it into his pocket. He immediately missed the feeling and he covered the frown he felt coming across his face with a snort. "I didn't actually say we were on a date."

There was a glint in the man's eye that didn't all come from the reflection of the moonlight. "You didn't actually say we weren't either." He raised a brow and his mouth split into a grin when Fenris didn't correct him further. He dug around in his pocket, change and a key ring clanking together, and by the time he sorted through the collected to fish out what he needed, the door to the apartment swung open. It clipped Anders on the back of his leg and he hopped down a step to avoid further injury. 

"I thought I heard someone out here."

Fenris looked away from Anders when he was sure he'd steadied himself again to glance up at the shadow in the doorway. The man was as wide as he was tall, and he was nearly as tall as Anders. An unruly mop of hair blended in with the darkness of the hall just beyond him, further shading the features of his face, but Fenris didn't need to see them to place the voice that boomed in the quiet hours of the night. 

"Hawke." The smile was gone from Anders' face, and his voice, replaced by a scowl. 

"Anders! I was wondering where you've been getting yourself off to. Isabela and I haven't been seeing you around as much as usual."

Anders wagged his ring of keys in Hawke's face. "Yet I still see you more than I usually want to." Hawke pressed a hand against his chest, wounded. Fenris snorted. 

"Now I haven't seen you too much," Hawke said, and Fenris shook his head. 

"I work at the library. I only take classes part-time. It would be unusual to see me on campus or in any related residentail areas."

"But you're here now."

"We were to meeting at the cafe," Anders explained. 

"The one Isabela works at now?"

"The one-" Anders worked the words around on his tongue and glanced over his shoulder at Fenris. He shrugged. "So that's why you walked away. She was asking about us, wasn't she? What did you say? Did you say we were one a date?"

Hawke interrupted before Fenris could begin recalling what he'd made up to make the woman happy with his answer. "You're on a date?"

Anders held up the coffee cup, now half empty. "Fenris never specifically said we were on a date, but we shared a drink. That's an indirect kiss. Still has the word kiss in it. We held hands, too. It's the perfect example of a date." He took a sip of the coffee, holding a cringe when he found it cold, and swallowed it down. "Isn't that right, honey?" 

"Only some of it, sweetheart." Anders laughed and Hawke shoved him with a smart comment that Fenris didn't hear over the ringing in his ears. It was simple to keep emotion out of his voice, harder to keep it off his face, and he turned away from the apartment building to hide his face in the shadow. Anders flirted with anything that had legs, men and women alike, Fenris included. It was how he was, his personality, yet the way he pressed it on him, the way he more than joking called him a pet name...Fenris could only play along for so much time. "I've promised to walk you back to your apartment. You're here now."

Anders pouted. "You also promised me another coffee. Don't go short on me now, babycakes."

Fenris nodded and turned around with clipped steps, hunching his shoulders when he heard Hawke laugh out a "That's gay, Anders," and the man's responding smack against his chest.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie - these past few chapters have left me in a rut and while I don't exactly like how they've gone, they've still gotten to lead the fic in the direction I want it to go. The next part will most likely take less time, be longer, and go back to the atmosphere that makes me love writing this so much, but bear with me here. I'll probably rewrite this bit of the fic at some point. 
> 
> Also, I know I don't write much for any one of them, but this one is going to be the shortest.

Fenris checked the street of cars at the corner crosswalk. This late at night it was unlikely to spot anyone on the road except for those working closing shifts or returning from an evening's escapade, but the glance down the road allowed him to find the bakery and Fenris let his gaze linger. The lights were still on and he could see shadows crossing the windows as Lirene and Isabela finished the shop's tasks before closing. He thought about marching back, swinging the door open wide for it to hit the wall with a clatter, and demand change for the coffee he never received, but Isabela kept him moving away from the cafe. She'd only ask for further details about his relationship with Anders and what he'd done after leaving in such a rush, and Fenris was not inclined to indulge her fantasies.

He wasn't inclined to even think about it. 

It had had been entertaining, kicking the sleeping man awake each night. Fenris let out a bit of frustration with the action and the chuckle he got out of it, and Anders got to blink awake to the sight of his pretty face, as he called it. He was pretty, he thought, with the twin tattoos that followed the curve of his chin to meet at his neck and twist their way around each other as they flowed down the plan of his chest, curling around his pecs, and leading a path straight to his hips. Finer lines framed the bones of his hands and fingers, a similar pattern on his feet, their color as stark white as the hair he wore, shaggy, hanging in his eyes. One or two looks of wonder weren't uncommon, and Fenris took satisfaction in the way Anders spoke about him, his appearances, his personality, his being. The man's jokes were amusing and his mannerisms endearing.

Fenris thought that was all there was to it. Anders joked, whined, complimented. 

Anders acted like there was something more. 

Fenris crossed the street and stuffed his hands in his pockets, as he turned down the street towards his apartment.

That was what the man did. He acted. Anders' sullen moods in the slow wave of afternoon traffic earned him a snack and a wink from Varric where the pout completely vanished beneath a bright grin. His cheery quips and low flirts earned him free coffee. Fenris fumbled with the change in his pockets as he wandered, down past the campus to the other side of town where the nicer apartments sprawled. It was all an act and whatever he wished to come of it would disappear as quickly as another one of the man's moods, and now that it was all out in the open, would their relationship - or whatever it was - would change?  
Would Anders find somewhere else to take his caffeine-induced crashes, making their only interactions occur at their shifts in the library? Shifts that might possibly turn silent. He'd grown use to the jokes they shared and the arguments over the technicalities of the library's rules and the quiet he envisioned seemed nearly impossible to withstand. Yet Fenris didn't think he'd be able to keep up his end of the act now that he knew the truth.

He would speak to Varric tomorrow when he returned to the library for work. His shift was in the afternoon, when we would take over for Anders. Fenris would give him the coffee he was promised and state his intentions to keep what friendships they had in tact, and persuade Varric to keep him on a schedule opposite each other. 

Tonight, with a lack of coffee, he trudge up the stairs to his apartment in search of his bed. It wasn't a large space compared to the other places on the side of town, but the stacks of unopened boxes and piles of trash turned the open floors into thin walkways. Most of their contents belonged to his uncle, kicked out after the recent and final call to the cops about a noise complaint. Fenris tossed all of the man's things into the trash and piled them away but never got all the way to putting them outside. As long as he couldn't see them, it was enough for him.

He wanted no reminder of it to add to the night's misfortune. He shut the door to his personal room and pushed away from the wall, forgoing the light switch in favor of shuffling forward on searching feet towards his bed. The woodwork here was clean of any unnecessary item, keeping him free from any harm to his toes, and he tossed himself onto the mattress, tugging a pillow close to hug it to his chest. 

Fenris wondered if Hawke kept his place messy. Anders would most certainly do the opposite of what that man did, and if Hawke was as much of a mess as he was loud, Fenris had no trouble seeing Anders keeping his room as tidy as possible. 

He cursed himself and rolled over, forcing his eyes shut. They remained closed despite the ache in his temples from the force needed to keep them so. 

Fenris was already breaking the promise to himself to keep things as they were.


	12. Chapter 12

His arms felt heavy when Fenris nudged the library door opens with his shoulder in the afternoon. Both hands were occupied with keeping the coffee cups upright while he balanced his laptop-ladled backpack on one shoulder to squeeze it through the entrance before the doors snapped closed on it. He threw it onto the desk, not startling Anders in the slightest from the doodle he scribbled away on a sheet of paper Fenris was absolutely sure was important enough to not be doodled on. Fenris placed the drinks down much more gently and passed it the other librarian's way. 

The scuff of styrofoam or the scent of grounds woke him from his daze and Fenris cursed himself for watching long lashes blink clear the daze coating bright brown eyes. He lowered his gaze - to his mouth of all things - and eventually turned it away altogether to scowl at the woodwork. 

"No outside food or drink in the library," Anders said. "I don't make the rules - except that I do. If I make them in bold print and staple it on the wall." 

Fenris cleared his throat of the chuckle that managed to work its way to his tongue. "I do not believe access to the printer nor stapler gives you full rights to make the rules. If so, anyone with ten cents in their pockets could say it was required for shoes to be removed upon entering."

Anders grinned and leaned over his idle drawing, elbows propped to hold his chin in his hands. "That's actually not a bad one. How large do you think the font has to be?"

"Enough that it is not seen."

The man nodded and tapped a cheek with a finger, considering it. His face brightened and he reached for his coffee. "Right, I see what you're on. If everyone took their shoes off this place would smell like a foot locker."

"That was not the point I was making." Fenris waited until he'd pulled his mug away to draw his own drink to himself. It was still too hot to the touch to put anywhere near his lips, but the warning did not deter Anders. He sipped and ran his tongue along the top row of his teeth to itch away the burn. Fenris most certainly hadn't watched. Rather, he turned to lean against the counter and directed his eyes towards a group of students huddled around a table piled high with books. One leaned over the impressive stack to chat with their friend. They caught his stare, flushed, and hid back behind the pile. 

Fenris rolled his eyes. 

Anders chuckled. "Feeling a bit more broody than usual? You should take some of that coffee for yourself."

"I do not brood. It was a long night."

The man hummed and Fenris made the mistake of craning his neck to give him a pointed look. A knowing smile shaded by lowered lashes greeted his scowl, and Fenris felt his face heat. The grip on his cup tightened and he was almost glad for the burn that trickled down his wrist as the styrofoam cracked and its contents spilled. Anders' sultry look turned wide-eyed and concerned, the smile wiping from his face, and the relief of its absence almost overpowered the pain in his hand. 

Fenris wiped his hand on his pants. "It's no matter."

"You just burned yourself," Anders exclaimed. "There's a warning on the cup for a reason."

Fenris grimaced down at the red welts making their way along the tattoos that lined his fingers. "As I am now well aware." 

Anders slid off the chair, hands fluttering, and moved around the counter. "Stay right there. I'll go get a cloth. It's your shift anyway, isn't it? You have to stay there." 

Fenris' frown deepened. Someone did have to manage the front desk, whether students were to take a book or not. He resigned himself to sitting in the emptied seat, arms crossed until the fabric of his shirt rubbed at his burn. 

"Blondie's right, Broody." Fenris sank lower in the seat as Varric came out of the back room, most likely from his break, to lift himself up on his toes and hang off the back of the office chair. "You're certainly living up to your nickname today." Fenris muttered a curse under his breath, one he felt Varric lean closer to catch. "What was that?"

"I have wounded myself. Anders has left in the need to find some way to stick his nose into the matter."

The dwarf whistled. "Trouble in paradise?" 

Fenris stiffened, ears perked for any lingering comments, but only silence rang between them. "There is no such thing."

Varric hummed his answer to that and moved around the chair to lean against the desk. Fenris watched him with a careful eye before returning to await Anders' return. Varric followed his gaze. "I know a story when I see one. What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"You two were fraternizing in my library just the other day, making plans with each other, and nothing happened?" Fenris nodded, jaw tight, and Varric spread his hands. "Then there's your problem. Something should happen."

Anders pushed his way back into the library, arms full of the coffee he refused to let go of and the first aid kit he balanced alongside it. Fenris found it almost endearing the way he was so protective of his caffeine, but after knowing the people he lived with and their habits it was no wonder he hung onto anything that could get through one more morning. 

Would Anders say yes if Fenris invited him over for a quiet night at his place?

He shook his head. Fenris knew his place in Anders' life. He was a friend, and just a friend, that tolerated his constant and continuous flirting. He was a coworker that showed up earlier than expected, allowing him a few more moments of the day to himself. He was his personal coffee run. Nowhere was something like inviting him over for a night appropriate. 

"I'm sticking it on your hand not up your ass. You don't have to be so stiff, Anders snorted, and Fenris blinked back to the present to find his wrist in the man's hands, a bottle of clear cream slathered on the burn. Fenris nearly tugged his hand away until hot fire cooled at the touch of the cream. Anders felt the muscles shift under his fingers and tightened his grip, keeping him in place. "I have to wrap it or you'll start peeling in all kinds of funny ways."

"You know your stuff. Blondie."

"That's nurse Blondie to you," Anders laughed. 

Varric answered him with a chuckle of his own, slapping a hand on his shoulder in parting. The dwarf passed his eyes over Fenris before he left, raising his brows. Fenris didn't have to see the twitch of his mouth as he mouthed silently to understand. He was leaving them alone. He was forcing Fenris to do something.


	13. Chapter 13

Fenris stilled as he was asked when Anders began wrapping a length of gauze around and between his fingers. His hands were delicate as they fluttered between his knuckles, poking and prodding gently to keep from aggravating the injury any more than he had to while attending to the damage. With care, Fenris, decided, when Anders finished with a slight tug of the bandage to tie it in place. He was treating it with care, and that thought hurt more than the burn. Fenris yanked his arm away, back to himself to clutch it against his chest, as if it had been Anders that caused the hot pain beneath his skin rather than the coffee that was slowly working a stain into the wood of the desk. Anders gave him a wry smile and leaned back against the desk, away. 

Anders wasn't supposed to care. Anders was supposed to be carefree, joking, chasing after what provided him pleasure and satisfaction one cause after another with little thought to the one he left behind. He treated Fenris like nothing more than one more, if slightly more permanent reason to smile and joke and wake up in the morning, and Fenris was not going to wait for the day he found someone else. The reminder came too late and he was leaning forward, unbandaged hand halfway stretched to reaching out for Anders when he pulled away, cursing at the sorrow he caused. 

Fenris cleared his throat and moved instead to push the coffee cup across the desk and mop up the mess with a pile of flyers for an upcoming campus event. "It seems I would owe you another."

Some of the light returned to Anders' eyes and a laugh broke through at his disbelief. "You're going to say that right now?"

"Am I going to say it when you leave? When you can't hear it?" Fenris countered. He bit his tongue, scraping it along the top row of his teeth as if he'd be able to rid it of the teasing tone it tossed onto his words. He would not lead the man on like he'd been. 

"You're right," Anders said. "Knowing you, you'd do that and then never bring it up again because you offered but I couldn't keep nagging you about it."

"You know nothing about me."

Anders' brow arched and his mouth followed a similar curve. A challenge was written between the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes created by that smile, and Fenris flinched away from it. "I don't do it," he drawled, and before Fenris could stop him he was talking, listing, making things up. "I know you arrive early and sit outside because you don't want to work more than you have to but you're afraid of arriving late. I know you go through every click bait article for reasons more than just because you're bored. I know those tattoos of yours run further than just on your chin and your hands - and I know you know that I heard it from Isabela." He leaned forward and Fenris backed away. The wheels on the chair caught on the carpet of the library and he was forced to a stop before the wall got in the way. "And I know you love me."

Fenris took in the toothy grin Anders gave him, lips pulled tight against his teeth and curling up towards his ears, eyes bright like he'd won the largest prize at a game he new all the tricks to. Who was to say this wasn't one, either? Fenris knew he was already being played - and Anders knew just the right buttons to push and turns to take to keep him one step ahead. He didn't want to be toyed with. He wouldn't be toyed with. He wouldn't give Anders the satisfaction of thinking he won this game as well, but there was little room to avoid any further advances. The back wall of the library prevented him from moving back and Anders leaning over him, hands on his hips, kept him from moving forward. 

Curse Varric for leaving them alone. 

Fenris rose to his feet and drew himself up to his full height - still a good several inches shorter than Anders, even leaning over. "You know nothing about me," he repeated, and the smug expression fell flat. Brows furrowed in confusion. 

"But I thought-"

"You thought wrong," Fenris snarled. He shoved forward and Anders raised an arm to stop him. Fenris flinched away from it and the hand moved no closer to touch him.

"You and I-"

"Work together," he finished. "You and I see each other walking to our respective classes. You and I visit a coffee shop which remains open past hours most others close. That is what I know. That is all you know."

"Then you don't think-" Fenris growled and Anders raised both hands in surrender. "No thinking outside of things I know, because who needs to think about something when you already know, right?" Fenris pursed his lips into a tight frown and Anders let out a weak chuckle.

"How about instead of this 'I know that you know' game, the two of you explain what happened between the time it took my to get something to wipe your mess off my desk and now that's making the both of you break my no yelling rule?" 

Motion caught his eye and Fenris risked a glance away to find Varric making his way back to the desk, face red either from the walk, embarrassment that his plan hadn't worked, or anger that it caused a verbal lashing to break out in the quiet. Anders caught it, too, and craned his neck to follow his gaze. It left him vulnerable, and Fenris rushed forward, knocking Anders out of the way, and finally breaking free to the door. Varric shouted something after him, quieting after a moment, and whatever he wished to say next was lost behind the doors swinging shut after him.

"Fools - all of them," he muttered to himself. Varric, for forcing their interaction, thinking it would work out in either's favor. Anders, for leading him on a game he didn't plan on finishing. Himself, for thinking he'd skipped his turn at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me updating more than once in a month. 
> 
> I got myself a second job and there's little enough time to do anything let alone write. I finding little pockets to get things done, and both luckily and unfortunately, we're almost done here. Just a couple more chapters, three or four, really, should be all.


	14. Chapter 14

Fenris flicked his eyes back up to the clock and the page beneath his hand was treated to another anxious line to mark the time. There were rows of them now, and Merrill's earlier doodles from her morning shift suffered for them. The sprawling swirls and graceful, thin-legged deer were now marred by his hand. Fenris cared little; the guilt that might have swirled in his stomach and could have pushed him into getting her own pad to draw on, instead of the outdated school events fliers, was out-competed by the nausea of the change in shift. Anders was to take on the duty of the closing hours, and the sun was close to setting. His belongings were packed, already - his laptop tucked safely into its pack alongside the one book he brought along, his notepads slung more carelessly into a knapsack resting in his lap to jab into his ribs with every inhale - just to shave down the time spent in the other man's presence.

The other day had been disaster.

He had practically run Anders down in his attempt to break free of whatever shackles he believed the man to encasing him in. Literally encasing him, Fenris supposed, when Anders pushed him to the back of the desk with no way to escape but forward, hadn't helped. In his desperation, he'd hit Anders, embarrassed Varric, and ruined what tranquility the library he cherished with his outburst. 

Yet, he didn't believe he'd go about it any other way if given the chance to go back. 

It was his uncle that had instilled it in him, the fear, the lashing out, the need to defend himself. The belief that only family would love him, only he, his uncle, could give him what no other could. None would love him like family. None would understand him like family. None would try to do either and Fenris believed it wholeheartedly enough to get the tattoos at his uncle's word. All because he'd said he'd love Fenris more. 

It was difficult to let it go, still, despite the time and distance between them, evident by the boxes of items he'd left behind. Fenris could shove them in a corner, could tape them up until it was impossible to open them. stack them until he no longer remembered what they contained, but he could not throw them out. 

He couldn't let anyone else in. They would speak the same lies Danarius had, hurt him the same, leave him the same. Anders would do the same. Only if Fenris allowed him to - and he would not. The man could flirt with him as much as he liked but Fenris saw through the words, the act. 

Another line crossed through the end of Merrill's swirl and through the photo of some smiling students in the corner of the page. Fenris snorted, pushed the pencil against the page a little harder, and plotted out their faces before setting both aside. The hour was up and he was to leave.

Either Varric had been watching the clock as well - or watching Fenris watch the clock - or heard the rustle of straps as they whispered against his jacket. The dwarf glanced up from his pile of registered cards to be looked through for any outstanding dues, as was the protocol for the end of the month, and gave Fenris a pointed look, complete with an accusatory jab of his finger.

"Where do you think you're going, Broody?"

"Home," Fenris grumbled, adjusting the strap to his laptop's bag before pulled the knapsack on over it. He rolled his shoulders to even the displacement of the notebooks and made for the end of the desk.

"You'll have to wait for Blondie before you even think to do that." Fenris halted, and Varric wheeled his chair out from its space to turn it and face him. "Unless there's a perfectly good reason why you should leave me all alone here."

"You are the boss around here. I am in full belief that you are able to withstand whatever this library is able to throw at you. I, however, am not, and am also not in charge of Anders. He is late, but I will be on time." 

Varric grinned and spread his hands out before him, asking for more. "And if I ask for the story between you?"

"There is no story."

"I think Blondie might have a differing response."

Fenris eyed the door. "As he isn't here right now, you have no way of knowing that." He pushed forward, hoping to make it past the chair before the entranceway was graced with more than just the wind. Varric let him go, more eager to tease than he was to truly push, and Fenris' sigh of relief was breathed much to quickly. It turned into an undignified squawk when the doors opened up suddenly before him, nearly clipping him as he jumped out of the way, and Anders shouldered his way through.

"My hands are full - I wasn't watching what I was doing," he said, reaching for him with one hand while the other was wrapped securely around a backpack with a broken strap and a sweatshirt. Fenris dodged away from it with a growl. 

"Don't touch me."

"Well if that's the way you like it done," Anders trailed off.

Fenris hears Varric's chuckling and he growled. "Lover's quarrel?"

Anders laughed. "That would imply we're quarreling." 

Fenris cast a hasty glance over his shoulder to follow Anders as he moved around him to drop his things on the front counter. The smile was in place, stretched wide across his face, but it didn't crinkle his eyes in the way Fenris came to enjoy. His face was flushed with an emotion of some kind, but Varric read the expression better than he as the dwarf cast a look at him. Fenris turned away, quickly, before Anders could follow his gaze and give him a better view of what marred his smile.

"What do you call all this then?" 

"Oh, you know," Anders' next laugh was strained and, to his growing horror, turned to make himself comfortable behind the desk. It put the man directly in front of him, and Anders looked up to glance at Fenris, a question on his face. One he didn't know how to answer. Didn't want to answer. 

Fenris shoved his way out through the doors and the slam of it shutting close after him cut the rest of Anders' answer to Varric off from him. He fished his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts until he passed by Merrill's name. He sent her a quick text to ask if she would cover him for the next several shifts.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Two chapters in one week? When has this ever happened?

The door to the library swept open with a rush of air and Anders reached a hand out to slap feebly against the counter top, fingers splayed. He lifted his head high enough off his arm to expose the red mark on his forehead. "Coffee?" he pleaded, half-lidded eyes following the student making their way through the entrance to the shelves just beyond. 

"Are you going to ask everyone that walks into my library," Varric asked, glancing up from his work.

"Yes," Anders muttered, and dropped his head back into the crook of his elbow until the blast of cold outside air signaled another newcomer.

"It's not Fenris." Anders cursed the dwarf and pulled himself into some semblance of a slouch. His lower back protested the actual use of his spine while his eyes complained of the light flooding them. It took a few, good blinks to see past the spots in his vision to make out Merrill working her way to the counter. "You're not listed today, Daisy."

Her wide eyes opened further and her parted lips pursed themselves. "He didn't tell you?" Merrill was answering before either had the chance to shake their heads. "Fenris texted me yesterday to ask if I could cover him for the rest of the week. He said he wasn't feeling well and I couldn't just let him work when he's sick so of course I said yes. I thought he would have spoken up about it - to you, at least, Varric, since he's not very into talking about himself."

Anders snorted his thought about that and sunk lower into his seat. He was stuck with the headache then, if Fenris wasn't going to be around to pester until he gave in to Anders' demands, as if he was annoyed by it, for his second = or was it third? - coffee. He wouldn't get the drink that warmed the chill always finding its way through his thin frame that fought against the pain just behind his eyes born of loud noises and long nights. Although, he had little right to complain. Hawke and Isabela still kept him up to the early hours of the morning, but since Fenris had shown up more often in his life, he'd begun to contribute his own fair share to the problem. 

There was something about his voice, the way it sounded sarcastic and smug and true all at the same, gravely time, the way the tattoos that dipped beneath his collar in a teasing show of what could be, and the way the toe of his shoe caught the bottom of his ribs just so when he was kicking him awake...Anders had never classified his pleasures as masochistic, but so much wanting made his chest so tight it hurt sometimes.

It was worth it for the free caffeine, though.

He must have mentioned it aloud, because when he looked up Merrill was glancing between him and Varric. "I haven't clocked in yet if you'd like me to-"

Varric waved her offer away. "He doesn't need it."

Anders slid forward, arms outstretched before him, whinning. "You don't know me or my needs."

He snorted. "I know you still sneak it in the back and the only reason I let you get away with it is because I know you keep it on a coaster now."

"I'm a criminal, not a monster," Anders grumbled, though with his next stretch he passed Merrill a bill. She returned with a can of chilled expresso, and it had the familiar taste of coffee with the bitter aftertaste of his own hard-earned cash.

That was supposed to be going to replacing the textbook he'd ruined. And next semesterr's payments. And the dorm fee. 

Anders groaned into the crook of his elbow with a sound pitiful enough to twist even Varric's cruel, cold heart. He heard a palm slap against the wood of the desk and peeked above the blessed darkness of his arm to see the dwarf tuck a bill under his wrist. "Someone will be filing a worker harassment report if you keep acting like that, Blondie. Go get yourself something, and come back in when you've finished."

"Do I get paid for it?"

"I'm a reasonable person, not a bleeding heart, kid." Anders pouted and Varric gave him a pat on the arm for it before he rose and made his slow and stumbling way outside the library and to the closest coffee shop. It wasn't the late night cafe he was used to, and it was more expensive, but Varric was paying and he wasn't in the mood to see Isabela outside of the time he absolutely needed to spend at the apartment. 

The woman had been badgering him about Fenris for days and he never knew how to answer her. They'd flirted. They had definitely flirted there was no way Fenris hadn't caught on and was matching him toe to toe only on happenstance. They went on a date. Fenris hadn't denied it when Anders brought it up to Hawke. They weren't together. They were just two friends who went on dates. 

And then just stopped talking to each other, Anders supposed. 

Had he scared Fenris off, he thought, and cursed himself for it. Of course he'd scared Fenris. The man hadn't run in the opposite direction like the hounds of the Void were on his tail because he felt like it. Something had pushed him - Anders had pushed him. With what was another matter to work through, and it would only be solved by asking Fenris himself - so he could never do it again. 

Anders took a sip of his coffee and relished at the first splash of caffeine on his tongue. He already felt awake just having the hot cup in his hand, and the more he let the drink settle in his stomach, the clearer his thinking became. 

If Isabela hounded him about Fenris, it was entirely possibly she was doing the same to Fenris, about him. She might have some clue about the situation. 

His feet were already taking the turn to bring him away from campus before he realized what he was doing. He couldn't go to the cafe now. He wasn't even sure if it was open in the early afternoon.

He could check, though.

It wasn't like he was getting paid right now, anyway.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look who updated!!! The Glowbang took up a lot of my time, if I'm going to make any excuses. We're wrapping this fic up, too. There should only be one or two more chapters after this!

Fenris watched the muscles around his shins clench beneath his skin. He did it again, arching his spine his time, and watched the shadows stretch to match the new position, curving up along the wall he'd flung his legs up against when he'd tired of simply sitting on the floor. Now he laid, back on the floor and tail bone against the corner where it met the wall, legs high above and his feet pointed over his face. In the darkness of the growing gloom he hadn't bothered to fight back with by lighting one of the few lamps he'd dragged into the living room the tattoos swirling from his neck to the toes he wriggled looked like bones. His skin crawled at the comparison and he tipped his head back, eyeing the boxes still idling in the corners of the house. He snorted and closed his eyes, shutting them out. He could get rid of the markings just as much as he could the memory of his uncle. 

If it wasn't the pale lines marking every inch of his body, it was the shadows cast by the packed items he'd yet to find a storage unit or garbage can to throw them in. It was the closeness of Anders' body to his, the purr in the man's voice, the way he reached for him like something he wanted to possess.

Fenris snarled, pushed off from the wall, and scrabbled for the box closest to him. 

He'd lived with them for long enough. He'd tripped over them one too many times as he navigated his way through a darkened apartment in the early mornings, getting ready for work. He'd thought about throwing them out for far too long without actually picking them up to toss them outside. The dust gathered on the surface was older than the dust in the carpet, and Fenris couldn't remember the last time he'd cleaned up. He was tired of seeing them. He was tired of living with them. 

He kicked and shoved the boxes together, moving them from one room to another until all were gathered, and he kicked them down the stairs. Fragile items shattered while sturdier things only clanked loud and hollow as they tumbled to come to a sudden bang by the door, loud enough to finally drown out the whispered words the man long since gone. Loud enough to drown out Fenris' own fear of hearing them again - in a different voice.

Standing above them, Fenris told himself he wouldn't be afraid again. 

He marched down the stairs, kicked them the rest of the way outside, and stormed over the battered and broken boxes down the street, unsure of where his feet would take him yet sure he couldn't spend one more second in his apartment. He hadn't left since he'd called for Merrill to take his shifts for the rest of the week. There was little in his schedule aside from work and what few courses he took, and with half of that taken care of, it left him with more time than he was used to. Time that was spent inside, in the dark, by himself. Thinking.

Thinking that he wanted Anders. Thinking that he didn't. Or shouldn't.

Thinking that he was going to try anyway.

Anders hadn't tried anything, either, though, and it made him wonder if Anders had given up. 

There were few enough who could know - there was Merrill and Varric at the library, but Merrill would ask Anders himself and Varric had already put two and two together and would try to squeeze Anders of whatever gossip he could. Anders avoided Hawke, and he would have avoided Isabela, too, if it wasn't for the fact that she worked at his now favorite coffee shop.

He wasn't going to sleep, anyway, and the caffeine of a bitter drink would do better to easy the trembling of his nerves than a walk late at night, and his feet were already leading him around the corner to the cafe. Before he knew it, Lirene had already nodded out a seat to him.

"Well hey there, tall, dark, and broody," Isabela purred. She slid a mug across the table to Fenris' awaiting hand and he pulled it close to himself. The hot porcelain was a poor imitation of the heat of Anders' hand in his, but it would do to chase off the chill of the passing sunrise. "Haven't seen you around lately," she continued, almost unsurprisingly slipping into the booth across the table from him. She crossed her legs and tapped on dangling foot against his knee absently.

"I haven't had a reason to come by," he replied with a shrug. 

She leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table with a hum, propping her chin in her hands. "It's true I haven't seen tall, bright, and tired much, either."

Fenris stiffened at the information she'd been able to gather just from that before letting his shoulders drop and sitting back to slump against the booth. "I didn't think it likely to find him here, considering I am always the one buying him something. There would be no reason for him to come on his own."

She raised a brow at him. "Anders hasn't been poking at you for anything?"

Fenris spread his hands, open and empty, in front of him, hoping the slight shake of them wouldn't give him away. "He has not been in my presence to poke. I haven't been to the library for a week and he hasn't tried to get a hold of me outside of it." 

Isabela slapped his knuckles and Fenris let her. The sting wasn't any worse than admitting the truth. That he was afraid it was true - all true - that Anders merely had been playing him and there was no need to continue anything further. That he was afraid to push through it on his own means. 

She rolled her head back with a groan, following the motion to fall back against the booth and cross her arms in front of her chest. The noise drew the eyes of the few people also awake at such an hour, and Fenris felt the tips of his ears heat in embarrassment before Isabela could properly scold him with an exasperated toss of her head. "Of course he isn't going to try to get a hold of you outside of your jobs at the library! He probably doesn't know how to get a hold of you. You don't have a cellphone and you haven't invited him over yet, most likely, so he can't talk to you or see you, you gorgeous idiot."

Fenris watched her raise herself up back to her full height before letting his gaze slide off her to give Lirene, safe behind the front counter, a desperate look, while Isabela dug around in the uniform's chest pocket. She twirled her wrist with a flourish and, a snap of her fingers later, she pushed a card into his face, bringing it only closer when Fenris batted it away. There was a fuzzy image of two coffees with two large numbers displayed behind them.

"What am I supposed to do with a coupon?"

Isabela slapped the card down in front of him and jabbed a finger into his chest with her free hand. "You are going to write your number on the back of this card. Then you're going to give it to Anders, who will probably say something like he'll get the free coffee if you get the 'buy one'. You'll part, he'll see your number, he'll call. You two can work it all out over the coffee that brought you together."

Fenris pursed his lips. "While you watch."

She grinned, teeth flashing. "While I watch. Until you guys leave for your make up sex." Fenris wrinkled his nose and Lirene made a noise of agreement before calling her back over to her station. Isabela rose from her chair and let a hand linger on his shoulder. "Give him the coupon."

Fenris flipped it over to the blank backside. "What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"Trust me."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I really want to kick the dead horse, I can add another chapter from Anders' pov in this setting.
> 
> If not, the next chapter will be the last!

The library had always felt like a sort of home to Fenris. There were people he could friends within, what with Varric's jovial attitude much like an overbearing father figure and Merrill's ability to trip over the same corner of carpet upon her entrance made him want to warn her to watch her step like she was his cumbersome yet lovable younger sister. There were comforts, of silence, books, and around the clock speedy wifi. Nice chairs. One of which would hold the lanky body of someone he found more than mildly attractive of as late.

His real apartment hadn't felt like anything but a room with four walls. There weren't any plush chairs to sink into at the end of the day. Only the hard mattress he slept on when he bothered to make his way past the boxes that framed the couch he normally retired on. His books were stacked on the floor, one on atop of the other, in a precariously leaning pile. Occasionally someone would call his cellphone - a telemarketer more often than a person he knew - and that would be the extent of his social time. 

Standing in front of the glass double doors after nearly two weeks of skipping work, it was like coming back after a long vacation. A stressful, frustrating vacation if he was to keep up the comparison, but the feeling of being back was still the same. It was as if something had changed. Perhaps if he walked inside the shelves would be rearranged in a new pattern, or Varric had ordered new seating. Maybe he'd find a new painting on one of the walls. It could have been that the walls themselves were painted differently. In any case, the building didn't feel like his anymore. He needed to get back into the swing of things, put his energy back into the place. He needed to get back to Anders.

He wasn't the only one to think so.

The feelings of eyes watching him was heavy on his shoulders and hot on his back. Fenris glared over his shoulder, knowing Isabela was somewhere behind him but unsure where exactly she was hiding - in the bushes to be dramatic like the silly crime dramas she enjoyed or around the corner snickering to herself like a teenage girl setting two of her best friends up.

Fenris felt his glare deepen into a scowl. It was an accurate relation that he didn't to think too much upon. He had enough to concern himself at the moment, he thought, pulling the coupon out of his pocket and flipping it over. His number was written in large pen, smudged from his pocket but still, he half-heartedly was disappointed about, legible. His name or address wasn't accompanied. Just his cell number. He flipped it back over to the colorful picture of two coffee cups offering a buy one get one on certain hot drinks and hoped Anders would get the message.

He hoped Anders would want the message. Or to even see him. 

"Well? Get on with it or I'll take the coupan back and bring Hawke!" 

Fenris started at the sudden hissed encouragement from Isabela and found her leaning around the library. The corner it was, then. A hesitant chuckle propelled him the first step and his hand was on the door. A glance through the glass showed Varric already looking at him, a grin at his face. It was too late to turn around now, even if Isabela wasn't right behind him to prevent him from doing just so, but it wasn't too late to make the visit only about Anders. The man was slumped over the desk, one hand tracing some pattern in the wood with an idle finger. Fenris glanced back at Varric and bared his teeth when his boss gave him a thumb up and began prodding at the man.

Varric jerked his thumb over his shoulder to the office around the corner and after a moment of coaxing Anders up from his seat, the two were out of sight. Isabela pushed Fenris forward again and the door swung open under his weight.

"Fenris! You should have texted me to say you were coming in today!" Merrill jumped up from her chair in the corner when she looked up at he sound of the door slamming shut. Fenris risked a look at the doorway Varric and Anders had disappeared through and turned back to find Merrill doing the same. Her eyes widened and she leaned forward over the desk, hands folded over each other. "Oh, don't worry. Varric knows. He even told me how you've been sick the past couple days. Even if he saw you here he wouldn't make you work."

Her attempts at comforting him made his words stick in his mouth and he cleared his throat. "That's not what I..."

"What if Anders sees you," she finished for him. He nodded. She raised a hand and pointed a finger at him. "He'll be very angry at first because he's had to buy the cold espresso drinks from the vending machine, and then very happy because he'll be able to swindle actual coffee out of you."

Fenris sputtered, first, at her nonchalance about the situation, and choked, second, when he heard Anders grumble grow louder as he came back into the library proper.

"Did you say there was coffee? If I come out and there isn't any I will cry, and not the soft kind that makes my eyes big and adorable, but the kind that will make you go get me something resembling caffeine just to make me stop."

"Espresso is a source of caffeine, Blondie." Varric came into view before Anders did, and kept walking without faltering when he noticed Fenris standing before the desk. His chuckle cut off just a bit early in order to grin at Fenris.

"I think I feel a tear coming."

"Apologizes," Fenris started, swallowing and trying again when his tongue went dry. It was if he hadn't seen Anders in years. Or he was looking at him with another set of eyes - which, he supposed he was, now. Eyes that were aware that they could look, openly, without fear of anything except simple rejection. He had a right to determine how many different colors were in his hair, all blended together by the tie that held it up. He had the strength to meet his eyes, and the choice to break their gaze when the dark brown lightened into sweet honey. "I hope it's not my appearance that offends. I haven't had the time to put my make-up on."

Anders' sour twist of his mouth straightened and then curled into a wide grin. "It's the smell, actually." Fenris covered his mouth with a fist and coughed, roughly, to hide a sudden laugh. He flushed when Anders looked him over, eyes roaming slow enough that it seemed he was truly looking. It sent a wash of heat down his spine.

"How much do you bet you can swindle coffee out of me?"

Anders hummed. "Whatever's in your pants."

Fenris let his lips curl. Anders raised a brow at the smirk and Fenris pulled out the coupon. Anders leaned over the desk, an exaggerated imitation of Merrill as he hung nearly off the counter top, to reach for it with a flailing hand. Fenris handed it over and Anders raised it to the light. Over his shoulder, Merrill gave Fenris a pointed nod of her head.

"Varric, I'm going on break."

Varric laughed. "You don't have a break."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. I didn't think I'd make this as long as I did, let alone actually finish it.
> 
> If you follow me on tumblr @asexualmerrill, you'll know that there's a short little epilogue coming up soon. This is marked as finished, but I'll be adding it to this.

Anders hummed as he walked an uneven pace down the sidewalk, a slight hop in his step swaying him left and right. Fenris trailed just behind him, watching with an amused little smile. He drew in a breath to ask what he found so delightful, but the man turned around gracefully on his heel, an answer already on his lips.

"It's so nice to be out of there." 

Fenris raised a brow, his own little grin widening. "You may not have a break but Varric won't pay you for the time taken out of the day to do this."

"Who needs a job when you have a plus one!" Anders flung his arms out, one holding on tightly to the coupon. "I don't have to sit in that awful squeaky chair, waiting for some kid to ask me where Professor High-and-Mighty keeps the reserved copy of 'I told you would need this book for my course sixth edition'. I don't have to listen to Merrill ask me how Isabela's doing - which is fine before you start asking, too. I don't...have to keep waiting to see if you'll show up."

Fenris twitched and he lifted his eyes from the sidewalk to glance curiously at the man. He'd certainly heard something involving him, but hadn't caught the meaning. Anders looked away, pale face coloring with red, and grumbled a further explanation under his breath. Fenris took a large step forward to catch Anders' heel, startling him. "What was that?"

"I said I don't have to wait for you to show up anymore," he huffed, and rolled a wrist to wave away any more prodding. Fenris chuckled. "Varric can put me back to my regular hours and I won't have to wake up so early anymore, that's all."

"That's all?"

Anders bit his lip.

"I thought you were avoiding me. I didn't think you'd come back." The distressed waver in Anders' voice sent an odd thrill down his spine. He shouldn't have felt pleased, at all, by the fact Anders was afraid he'd never see him again, but it was a sort of confirmation that whatever he'd been feeling - was feeling - was returned. In some part, at least, but partly was all he needed for the rest of his doubts to disappear. Anders cleared his throat and Fenris focused back in on the man rather than his own thoughts. The pale skin of his freckled cheeks were flushed and when Anders caught him looking his eyes widened and he glanced away. "The last time I saw you, you looked terrified. And then you bolted. I don't know what I did or said but-"

"I had an uncle," Fenris started, slowly, and realization turned the worry on Anders' face into a sorry sort of relief. Fenris had no desire to speak more of the subject, to admit the things he'd willingly done for such a man, and was content to let Anders explain for himself.

"So it was that kind of thing I did," Anders chuckled. He shook his hands out in front of him in apology and swept a loose strand of hair behind an ear. "I meant I think I know why you were scared. I 'had an uncle', too. Or, a father, really. I guess it doesn't matter what I call him. He could be Uncle or Father or Asshole for all I care," he added. His voice was rising and Fenris opened his mouth to tell him he didn't have to continue if he wished, but Anders moved on nonetheless. "He was alright, for a father, I suppose. Not my kind of father, though. Had this big whole plan for me that I didn't want to follow. I was reckless, I was a danger, to myself and others because I didn't follow his rules. So he kicked me out and told me I'd never find anyone willing to put up with my sorry excuse for an existence. I didn't feel like I'd ever make a connection with anyone if I couldn't with my own parents."

Fenris found himself face to face with a round, watery eyes, and he swallowed, shrugging his shoulders. "I depended on my uncle for a lot of things. I was brought up to believe I would always need to. He enjoyed this fact, and he liked to display it. I did what I was told, until I thought perhaps this wasn't how family was meant to be." He shrugged again, stuffing his hands in his pockets, as if hiding away the few areas his tattoos showed would cover up the truth. Anders followed him and a hand made its awkward, clumsy way into his pants pocket to wrap around his knuckles.

"And now..." Anders' brows furrowed for a moment before straightening out again. "Now we have coffee."

Fenris flipped his hand over, found Anders' fingers, and interlocked them. "I have coffee. You just get the coupon."

With a laugh, Anders pulled his hand free, paper in hand. He waved it in front of Fenris' of nose. "And you can't have it!" Fenris tried to snatch it back, but the man jumped just out of reach as soon as Fenris started forward. He chuckled when Anders darted back another step before whirling around and making a break for the open cafe further down the road. 

He was content to take his time, pausing every so often to glance at something behind a window, checking Anders out of the corner of his eye. Anders wouldn't have been able to buy anything until Fenris and his wallet arrived, leaving Anders to stand outside until he finally ambled up to the door. Usually, the man was giving a suspicious look at the late night bakery - most likely on the lookout for Isabela. Other times he was watching Fenris. Until Fenris glanced is way, and then his attention was back on the door. Fenris felt his face flush, then, warmer than he thought. Now that they were of an understanding again, there were no reservations. 

Anders knew it, too. When he finally made it to the door, Fenris held his hand out for the coupon and Anders only lifted it out of reach, a smirk on his face. There was more than just mischief in his eyes, and Fenris found himself hunching his shoulders, keeping his head low to hide the blush and small smile that came to his face, and knocked into Anders as he passed into the bakery. 

It was no surprise to see Lirene leaning halfway over the counter, a stern look on her face. She'd have spotted Anders waiting impatiently by the door. "I've been wondering where you two have gone. I've only been seeing one of your or the other, and I couldn't get a peep out of Isabela." She shook her head, a muttering a quiet, "For all the secrets she likes to spread," under her breath.

"That's because she didn't have any idea herself," Anders told her as he sauntered up to the counter. He slid the coupon her way. "How about you give her something to talk about? Like how Fenris and I sat in the corner, his hand in mine and a coffee in another, whispering something just out of earshot but it makes me blush so it must be something good...did I mention the coffee in my hand?"

Lirene straightened with a huff and scratched at a drying stain on her apron. "I sure did, but I didn't hear a please after it."

Fenris chuckled and placed a bill next to the coupon. "Two regulars, please."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isabela would have had a lot to talk about. It wouldn't have been anything very interesting, Fenris thought, as he listened to Anders complain about the grueling work that came with a librarian's position. No one bothered to look for the book before asking what section it was in; another tried to walk out the door with a course textbook; one nearly spilled their sanctioned vending machine soda on their magazine and they would have become the honorary replacement librarian and they were certainly not as pretty or as available to buy coffee as Fenris was.

It was enough to make him blush. Darker than he already was with Anders' hand in his, thumb running lightly across his knuckles.

It was easy. It was so simply, stupidly easy. To sit at the same table, listening to his voice, laughing with him. Loving him and being loved back.

Anders hummed out a sigh and sat back, his own cheeks stained a pale red after his constant chatter. He took a sip from his coffee and stuck his tongue out when he found it cold. Fenris caught himself staring, watching it slip back between his lips. Anders did it again, slower, lashes lowered, and Fenris felt his grip on his mug tighten ever so slightly.

"I think we should go," Fenris heard himself say. Anders' eyes brightened. "My place or yours?" 

"Yours. Hawke's home by now and I have no idea where Isabela is but it's probably with him."

Fenris nodded. He hadn't seen her again since leaving the library, either. He shoved another bill beneath his mug as a tip and rose, hand held out for Anders. Instead of taking it, the blond raised his arms up over his head.

"Carry me."

Fenris frowned. "I can't carry you all the way to my apartment."

The same light shone in his eyes and Fenris tried to think of just what he had said that the man could twist. "You don't have to carry me that far. Just a little. I miss the good old days."

"Where you would pass out in your homework until I kicked you awake?"

"You're much more beautiful when I'm not blurry-eyed from sleep. And I like to think I'm a better flirt when I'm caffeinated."

Fenris shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. "You are...something."

Anders flexed his fingers. "I'm hearing a positive tone in that voice."

"Because you are right. I do miss the old days," he chuckled, before knocking his foot into Anders'. The man grumbled and pushed his chair out of Fenris' range, stuffing his hands in his pockets to scuff his shoes against the floor. "I'll just go dump my drink on another pretty man's books and see if he'll - hey!"

Before he could finish speaking, Fenris was looping around his shoulders, supporting his knees, and hefted. Anders gave a startled squawk and smacked at his arms with open palms. "I do miss when you would stay at the library. But now it is time to make new days." Anders hit him again and Fenris kissed his fingers.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the epilogue to end it all.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking through this with me! I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

Fenris had grown accustomed to waking with Anders' soft snoring in his ear. Countless nights spent curled up with him beneath the sheets had made the annoyance an almost sort of comfort, and it was the silence now that made him uneasy. Fenris blinked hard to clear his eyes of the sleep that made the bright morning foggy. He jerked his head away when a breath of air ghosted over his face.

"Morning babe." So Anders had woken before him, instead of Fenris waking him as he began the routine of dressing for his morning shift at the library. A special occasion that warranted a prize, Fenris thought, and he rolled over to give the man a kiss. Anders hummed into it, leaning forward when Fenris pulled away. "Sweetheart."

Fenris pushed his face away with Anders shifted close for another kiss. "Brush your teeth first." He felt the pout form beneath his fingers.

"But honey. Boo bear. Honey cakes. Grumpy-kins-"

Fenris moved his hand more to the left and covered Anders mouth with his palm. A blast of warmth against his skin had him narrowing his eyes at Anders, and his hand tightened slightly over his mouth. Anders mumbled a muffled something before sticking his tongue back into his mouth. Fenris grunted out his reply and rolled back over, taking the sheets with him and pulling them up to his chin.

"Go back to sleep or bother someone else."

Anders sat up only enough to drape himself across Fenris, and he found himself wriggling closer into the taller man's warmth. "Let's go bother Hawke."

"Only if you pay," Fenris groaned, and there was a pause of silence that had him wondering if Anders was going to end up going back to sleep instead. The bed creaked, breaking the illusion, and Fenris finally pushed himself upright to watch his boyfriend stumble around the room, picking up - and then dropping - his clothes.

"We'll just get water, then." Anders grinned and tossed him his shirt and Fenris dragged a hand down his face. "C'mon! Get dressed!"

"In time, Anderkins."

Anders cackled and nearly cracked his head on the wall when he stumbled while yanking his pants up.

It took longer than necessary to finish getting ready. Between shooting increasingly dramatic nicknames and trading threats of what the other could order, they weren't out of the apartment until the end of Hawke's shift. A rival coffee shop had opened near Day Break. It was closer to campus and was open in the early mornings, rather than the late afternoons that the bakery was. There was little competition, but it was more accessible to residents of the dorm, particularly ones that had a long day ahead of them. With Isabela working at nights, Hawke had time on his hands, none of which would be spent with Anders since moving in with Fenris, and he'd found a job himself. 

Anders still worked at the library, despite Varric excusing him of his bill - saying that putting a smile on Fenris' face was as fine a payment as any. He still took the hours, though there were little, so he'd self-employed himself as a karma worker for Hawke. 

By barging into the new coffee shop to order something ridiculious right before his shift was the end.

Fenris couldn't help the grin spreading across his face as Anders leaned over the counter, long legs stretched for his viewing pleasure, and ordered a water. Hawke turned desperate eyes to the clock, where the second hand ticked passed nine.

"We don't serve tap water, Anders, you know that."

"But you love me - not as much as Fenris, I hope - so you will make an exception, right?" Fenris covered his mouth with the back of his hand to hide his chuckle while Anders pleaded. "I've missed you so much more than I thought since leaving. Don't you? Or do you like the privacy and are trying to keep me away?" Anders inhaled a quick breath an fluttered a hand in front of parted lips. "Is Isabela coming? Don't want to keep her waiting. So, water?"

Hawke rubbed at his eyes.

"Fenris, honey, you're the man in this relationship. You talk some sense into the boy."

"You're both men," Hawke said.

Anders hummed and turned around on his heel. "Fen certainly makes me feel like one."

Hawke pressed his hands over his ears and glanced at the clock again. "I don't want to hear anymore of it."

Anders tsked. "Neither did I. But I guess we're both happy now, right?" He bat his lashes. "Our waters?"


End file.
